There is surprisingly little information found on the web today regarding the numerous "oddball" card sets released over the past 40 or so years. Thousands of different sets have been printed during this time, featuring every imaginable sport from bowling to jai alai. We will shine our spotlight on random sets we pull from our shoebox... Who knows which cards will be next? Feel free to email me at policefan71@yahoo.com with any questions or comments!

This set is so rare -- and seemingly undocumented -- that one has to wonder if these cards were ever issued. I stumbled upon this set one evening whilst walking through the convoluted online garage sale known as eBay, and promptly added it to my collection with an unflinching click of the "Buy It Now" button. As far as researching the set, Google yields no clues whatsoever. Thankfully, the players and coach pictured on these cards quickly narrow down the year of issue here to 1993, the inaugural season of the Kickers in the USISL (United States Interregional Soccer League).

These cards are slightly larger than the standard size, measuring 2 5/8 across by 3 5/8 tall. The set we obtained features 21 unnumbered cards that were printed on semi-glossy card stock. Backs are printed in varying shades of green and give a short bio of the subject listed. The set was sponsored by the "Sportsmed" division of the Henrico Doctors' Hospital. Cards are not numbered except for player uniform numbers.

A few players went on to perform at the MLS level, including goalkeeper Scott Budnick, midfielder Mike Huwiler, forward Rob Ukrop and midfielder Richie Williams, who played eight productive seasons with D.C. United and Metro Stars. Forward Leigh Cowlishaw was the first player to have his number retired by the Kickers, and is still involved with the franchise today as their successful coach. Bobby Lennon co-founded the Kickers with Cookie Ketcham, both of whom are pictured on cards in the set.

It's hard to put a price on a set that collectors don't know exists. I'm sure that die-hard Richmond fans would have an interest, and regional oddball collectors as well. All I can say is grab one when ya find it.

2 comments:

I love seeing sets like this surface. With the effective demise of the Standard Catalog, and the ineffectual nature of Beckett, I love finding blogs that help bring this kind of set into the hobby's collective consciousness. It's one thing to search for Bigfoot. At least you have a general idea of what you're trying to find. But sets like this are like finding some unexpected hidden treasure. I've added you to my Feedly roll of hobby blogs. Keep up the great posts! I'm off to catch up on all your previous entries.

Thanks for the kind words! I try to mix the common with the obscure and make the selections seem truly random. I'm thinking I may do the 1982 K-Mart MVPs boxed set next... With thousands of people finding copies of this set every day, posting a writeup on the set will surely triple the traffic here....

About Me

I grew up in the the 1980s, and I loved collecting baseball and football cards... So why not write a blog about them?
These days, I'm also the Historian for the USFL's Houston Gamblers football club. Our website is Houston-Gamblers.com.